Suffolk same-sex couples wed

Love is in the air at two local households in particular after Suffolk Circuit Court began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Tuesday.

A little after 11 a.m., Carol Denna Johnson, 56, and Lisa Denee Peebles, 47, obtained the first such license in Suffolk, after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review decisions in favor of gay marriage originating in five states, including Virginia.

Johnson and Peebles arrived home on Greenfield Crescent newlyweds mid-afternoon Wednesday, after driving to Norfolk Circuit Court, where Marriage Commissioner Cynthia Smith performed the ceremony.

Having been together 18 years, the couple decided they wanted to marry two years ago, said Johnson, a private nurse assistant.

“I feel good about it,” Johnson said, her wife — disabled and not working — quickly adding, “I feel great about it.”

From previous relationships, Johnson has a son and Peebles a son and two daughters. Along with the rest of their family and friends, their children are happy with and supportive of their decision to marry, according to the couple.

“I love her,” Johnson said. “She’s my soul mate. It’s hard to find a soul mate today. Through my ups and downs, she’s been right there.”

Peebles said she felt only happiness after the ceremony. “I feel glad,” she said. “I was scared, but I was really happy.”

Mid-afternoon Tuesday, Kathy Montgomery, 48, and Lorraine McKay Eure-Montgomery, 47, became the second same-sex couple to obtain a marriage license at Suffolk Circuit Court.

The same as Johnson and Peebles, they were told no one was available at the court Tuesday to perform the ceremony. Under Virginia law, they have 60 days to use their license. Eure-Montgomery said they’d travel to another courthouse — perhaps Portsmouth — for the ceremony in the coming days.

Montgomery, a transporter in the radiology department at Sentara Obici Hospital, and Eure-Montgomery, now disabled but who used to work in hog nurseries before a stint on the killing floor at the Smithfield packing plant, had a civil union in their Wellons Street backyard in 2005.

“It’s been a long while coming,” Eure-Montgomery said of marriage equality in Virginia. She expressed surprise more same-sex couples haven’t ventured to the Suffolk courthouse for their licenses since Monday.

The path to same-sex marriage in Virginia hit an important marker last year in Norfolk, when plaintiffs Tim Bostic and Tony London sued the clerk of Norfolk Circuit Court when they were denied a marriage license.

In February, a U.S. District Court ruled Virginia’s same-sex marriage unconstitutional, a decision the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld in July.

“When they first found it unconstitutional, we were, like, OK, we can do it now,” Eure-Montgomery said.

But the issuance of marriage licenses was on hold while the Supreme Court decided whether it would review the issue. “We had to wait again,” Montgomery said.

Being legally married will help in many practical areas of life, Montgomery said. “She knows my health issues,” she said. “If something should happen to me, she’s got all the power in her hands — and that’s the way I want it.”

Eure-Montgomery said she stepped out of the courthouse Tuesday afternoon and onto Main Street “walking on air.”

“I live my life according to myself,” she said, turning to her new wife. “I don’t have to really have the court’s permission to love you. With or without their authority, I love you anyway.”

Montgomery and Eure-Montgomery both say they were “raised in the church.” “It’s not that I turned away,” Eure-Montgomery said. “It’s just that when you learn you have free will, and you are an adult, you can do what you want.”

“We have our own little Bible study at home,” Montgomery said.

Back on Greenfield Crescent, Johnson described the freedom she now feels: “I can be the woman that I want to be to my wife,” she said.

“I can hold my wife’s hand now. If I kiss her, I don’t care who sees me now. I have been waiting for this day.”